Sayyed Nasrallah’s Full Speech During the Electoral Festival in Tyre and Nabatiyeh

Translated by Staff, Hezbollah Media Relation

Speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the electoral festival hosted by party in the cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh on Monday, May 9, 2022.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Master and Prophet, the Seal of Prophets, Abi al-Qassem Muhammad Bin Abdullah and his good and pure household and his good and chosen companions and all the prophets and messengers.

May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you all.

God Almighty says in His Glorious Book:

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

{Allah keeps firm those who believe, with the firm word, in worldly life and in the Hereafter. And Allah sends astray the wrongdoers. And Allah does what He wills.} (27)

Allah Almighty has spoken the truth.

At the start, I would like to welcome all of you, brothers, sisters, and honorable residents of the city of Nabatiyeh, the city of Imam Hussein [peace be upon him]and of the city of Tyre, the city of Imam Sayyed Abdel Hussein Sharafeddine and Imam Sayyed Musa al-Sadr, may God bring him back safely.

We welcome you, the ones who came from all parts of the south, from Jabal Amel, from the districts of the south and Nabatiyeh governorates, from all cities, villages, and towns. You came to express, as you have throughout the past decades, your sincerity, loyalty, great presence, stance, steadfastness, resistance, and victory. I thank you for this great attendance.

Before I begin the address, it is also my duty to offer my condolences on the loss of the great scholar, His Eminence Sayyed Muhammad Tarhini. Our condolences to his honorable family, the honorable people of his town Ebba, to our people in the south, to all the Lebanese, to our honorable scholars, to students of religious sciences, and to the hawzas on the loss of this venerable scholar, mujahid jurist, teacher, and supporter of the resistance. He supported the resistance with his hand, tongue, pen, heart, supplication, and position.

Brothers and sisters, we are attending today in an electoral campaign. Due to circumstances, the elections will take place after the month of Ramadan. Eid has come. The days of electoral silence have come. Our time is short. We only have Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. This means we will deliver speeches and meet after the electoral silence.

This compelled us to join all the campaigns. Otherwise, each district in itself deserves a separate campaign. So, today we are campaigning in the south. Tomorrow, God willing, it will be for Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and on Friday, we will be with our honorable people in the Beqaa.

As I watch this great and beautiful scenery, I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could be among you, standing in front of you, and addressing you directly.

In any case, this is one of the requirements of the ongoing battle – for me to speak to you from afar. During the upcoming addresses, I will divide what comes to mind and what ought to be said into three parts. What I will say today is for all of Lebanon, even if it was especially for the south.

During election campaigns, we would have liked to begin with the people’s real concerns and pain, the people’s immediate pain. In January, February, March and April, research bodies and centers conducted opinion polls in all 15 districts. They asked people about their priorities and interests. The vast majority talked about economic, livelihood, and financial worries, about depositors’ money, electricity, water, unemployment, job opportunities, high prices, monopolists, and corruption.

I’ve read all these opinion polls because they were the subject of interest, of course, and few people in all districts raised the weapons of the resistance. The issue of the resistance’s weapons did not come up as an interest, a priority, a problem, a suffering, and an urgent issue that the new Parliament and the new government must deal with.

Unfortunately, some political forces dragged the issue of the resistance weapon from the bottom of the list of interests and made it the headline of the current electoral battle. For several months now, we have been hearing speeches and incitement. They made this topic the title of the current electoral battle. Therefore, let's start from here. Let's talk from here. I wanted to talk about contributing to building a just and capable state, about the depositors' money, about the various files. In any case, today I will focus on this topic. If there is time left, I will talk about another topic. But of course, tomorrow and Friday, God willing, I will tackle the rest of the files. I will resort to logic, argument, evidence, facts, from a position of responsibility, and from the field to discuss with you the title they imposed on the electoral battle.

1- I want all the Lebanese to know that those who are today calling for the disarmament of the resistance – some even gave polemical urging people to vote get rid of Hezbollah and its allies. They went beyond the issue of resistance and the weapons of resistance – are ignorant and ignoring what the south has experienced and what the people of the south have suffered since the establishment of the temporary usurper entity in Palestine in 1948. I am not accusing them.

In 2006, when Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called for dialogue – and we participated in the dialogue – the defense strategy came up. One of these political leaders, who is raising his voice more than normal, said during the session – there are recordings of the Parliament available – that “Israel” has not attacked Lebanon. This person is calling for the disarmament of the resistance.

From 1948 until 1968, i.e., at the beginning of the guerrilla work in southern Lebanon, “Israel” did not assault Lebanon! “Israel” did not pose a threat to Lebanon! “Israel” did not create a problem with Lebanon! This person is either ignorant or pretending to be ignorant. What is strange, brothers and sisters and Lebanese, is that Lebanon is a small country. The people in the north know what is in the south. The country is not 100,000 or 200,000 km. We are talking about a recent contemporary history that is 70 or 80 years ago. Still, they tell you this.

I remember at the dialogue table a discussion took place. His Excellency Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri answered him as did I. Then, one of the brothers from the delegations got up and brought documents from Al-Safir newspaper and presented it to the audience. He told them, ‘Look at these documents, what “Israel” has done since 1948.’ Brothers and sisters, people of the south, and the Lebanese, the usurping entity announced its existence on similar days, on May 15, 1948, at a time when there was no guerrilla action, no Palestinian resistance, and no Lebanese resistance in southern Lebanon. It attacked the border villages and displaced many of their residents. People ran away with their furniture and livestock and anything they could transport. It entered the town of Houla and carried out a horrific massacre in which dozens of martyrs, men and women, children, young and old were killed.

This was “Israel” in 1948, 1949, and 1950, and it continues. Imam Sayyed Abdel Hussein Sharafeddine at that time sent his well-known message to the then President of the Republic and demanded that the state protect the southerners and send the army to the borders to defend the residents of the border villages. But it fell on def ears. He told him if you are not able to protect, then let there be care, let there be shelters, let there always be support for the southerners to stay in their land so that they do not emigrate, and so that the south does not quickly turn to a second Palestine. But they did not listen.

During the fifties, the enemy army used to enter the southern villages, kill, demolish homes, burn crops, and kidnap internal security forces. The army even entered the few gendarmerie stations that were there.

In the sixties, the “Israeli” enemy bombed the Wazzani facilities, which the southerners were intended to benefit from, water from the Wazzani [river]. It was a project supported by the Arab League, but no one moved a finger. The situation continued this was in the sixties and seventies.

Hence, the suffering of the south and its people started with the establishment of this entity usurping occupied Palestine. As for those who say that “Israel” attacked the south as a reaction to the Palestinian operations, this is a lie and slander. From 1948 to 1968, there were no Palestinian operations or resistance operations.

Therefore, these people are either ignorant or pretending to be ignorant. This basically shows that they do not see “Israel” as a threat or an enemy that has ambitions in the Wazzani, the Litani, Lebanon’s waters, Lebanon’s lands, gas, oil, and wealth. This is first.

2- In the context of this battle, they resorted to deception and forgery to undermine the resistance. They hid behind senior religious clerics and great leaders, especially in the Shiite community, although these leaders were at the national level when they wanted to distinguish between the current resistance – or as they call it the Shiites of the resistance – and His Eminence Imam Sayyid Musa al-Sadr, His Eminence Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, and His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din.

Allow me here to remind you of Imam al-Sadr’s positions, resistance, and speeches, which cannot be matched by that of the resistance of Hezbollah, the Amal movement, or any national or Islamic resistance in Lebanon.

I’ll mention some texts and facts from the biography of Imam Sayyid Musa Al-Sadr because he was actually the founder of the resistance and the leader of the resistance until his kidnapping in 1978. Ever since he came to Lebanon, Imam al-Sadr continued to address this issue. Similar to Imam Sharafeddine, he used to see the “Israeli” attacks, threats, and transgressions. He always talked about them, and he began to demand the Lebanese state to strengthen the Lebanese army and send sufficient forces to the border. At that time, there was no occupation. We are talking at the beginning of the sixties. There was no occupation.

Later in 1967, the Shebaa Farms and the Kfar Shuba Hills were occupied, but the attacks continued. Imam al-Sadr addressed the state and told them that if they didn’t have enough men in the army, train our youth. I, the religious cleric, am ready. Back then, the Imam was a young man. He meant that even though he was a cleric, he was ready to train to handle a weapon and fight with the youth. Train our youth, arm our youth.

Fight using our youth to defend the south. But they did not listen to him. Do you know why? Because since 1948, the south and the border villages were never the state’s priority or interest. This was not only the case with the south but also the Beqaa, Akkar, and the north – areas that were annexed with Greater Lebanon in 1920. This is part of the policy of neglect and back-turning by the state for all these areas. They did not listen to Imam al-Sadr.

Imam al-Sadr moved from one Arab capital to another. I was reading about him. Really, a person’s heart breaks over this great man who spent his days traveling from one Arab capital to another, from Damascus to Cairo, to Riyadh, to Amman, to Kuwait to etc. to speak with Arab kings, princes, and presidents for the Arabs to assume their responsibility in defending the south. When the Arab deterrence forces came to Lebanon, Imam al-Sadr tried to push the Arab deterrent forces to the south so that the Arabs would defend it. However, he was not successful. He said that in 1974 and 1975 and for ten years, I’ve been demanding the state come and defend the south. But they did not listen to me and did not accept help from me.

Therefore, Imam al-Sadr chose the other option. All of us in Lebanon must know this. All the Lebanese in all the Lebanese regions must know why the south and the people of the south resorted to the option of armed resistance and based their armed resistance on the rest of their people in the rest of the Lebanese regions – in the Beqaa, Beirut, the mountain, and the north. It was not enthusiasm, emotion, or passion of the soul. Rather, it was a choice they were forced to make as a result of the abandonment of the Arab countries, the League of Arab States, and first and foremost, the Lebanese state and its successive governments. Therefore, Imam al-Sadr chose the other option in the seventies.

I am reading to you some texts that are in ten volumes, so that these people know what kind of resistance they are demanding to disarm. I am not saying which resistance they want to disarm; they will never disarm it! But I am saying the resistance that they would like to disarm.

Listen to another part of Imam al-Sadr’s address on January 1,1971 during a Ashura commemoration at the Amliyeh University. Listen well to the words of the Imam. ‘It is the duty of every human being, whether the state wills it or not’ – this means that he is indifferent with the state. He has despaired from waiting on the state to decide – ‘it is the duty of every human being, whether the state wills it or not, to train and to arm oneself like Ali bin Abi Talib and Hussein bin Ali. If he does not know how to use weapons, then this is a deviation from the line of Ali and al-Hussein. Every young man must train and take up arms to establish a Lebanese resistance that teaches the enemy a lesson.’ He opted for this option. There is no choice. We cannot wait for the army, the state, the Arab countries, the Arab deterrence forces, the international community. Imam al-Sadr got to this option from experience and concern.

Listen to another part of a speech he gave on March 26,1975 in the Imam Al-Sadiq Club on the Prophet’s birthday.

‘Training to handle weapons is a duty like learning to pray. For the resistance, training to handle weapons is a duty like learning to pray. Owning one, even if you have to sell your bed, is a religious duty.’ Imam al-Sadr is calling on us to buy weapons, even if we had to sell our bed. ‘It is a religious duty as owning a Quran. I am telling you this on the day of Muhammad’s birth, on Muhammad’s pulpit, and in Imam al-Sadiq building. Oh God, bear witness that I trained to handle weapons and acquired one.’ The imam trained to handle weapons, bought weapons, and put them in his house to fight.

On January 20,1975 while inspecting the situation of the displaced people of Kafr Shuba in Marjayoun in a school, the Imam gave another speech. Some of what he said was that ‘the beginning of the occupation is a phenomenon, and danger is threatening the homeland. We fear that the authorities will remain studying the defense plan. When will talk?’ This was in 1975. The authorities in Lebanon, oh southerners and Lebanese people, have been studying the defense plan since 1975 and are not done yet, and we are already in 2022.

We must make a position, Imam al-Sadr says, knowing that self-defense and dignity is part of human existence, and we do not need to make a decision for that. We do not need to wait for the state to make a decision.

Early on, Imam al-Sadr talked about eliminating “Israel” from existence. Nowadays, there are people who are surprised by our speech reiterating what he said.

Listen to what Imam al-Sadr said before the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran, and the leadership of the revolution putting forward the strategy of eliminating “Israel” from existence.

On October 6,1974 in the UNESCO [palace], he said that “Israel” must be removed from existence. “Israel”, in its present form, is an aggressive element, and its existence contradicts the human march. In contrast to the basic movement of human civilization, it, therefore, has no place with us and among us.

This is Imam al-Sadr, and this is the resistance of Imam al-Sadr. I tell you with all sincerity that what I mentioned a little while ago was the ceiling that Imam al-Sadr used to preach, talk, and think in. So far, we have not reached this ceiling. We did not dare to say what he was saying even though the regional conditions today are much better, the conditions of the resistance are much better, and the conditions of the resistance’s environment are much better.

I will only mention two examples.

The first example: I tell this to those in Lebanon hiding behind the cloak of Imam al-Sadr. Does he accept this logic? This is the Imam al-Sadr’s logic. Listen to what he said in 1974 in the Great Omari Mosque in Sidon. At the time, there was a big celebration in the mosque. Imam al-Sadr said, “We want the south, and we are in the heart of the south in Sidon, to be an impregnable area, a rock by which “Israel’s” dreams can be crushed, the nucleus for the liberation of Palestine, and the vanguard of the fighters against “Israel”. The south is the spearhead against “Israel” and a base for the liberation of the Holy Land. We don't want a lean south in the form of mini-states. We want a south that holds on to Lebanon, linked to this nation, O advocates of neutrality, linked to this nation, united with the Arabs, a spearhead for them, not a weak and separated south, but rather a strong south.”

Can we say that despite all the circumstances, our situation is much better than that of Imam al-Sadr? Can anyone – I, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, or any believer in the resistance say the words that Imam al-Sadr used to say? We are still under his ceiling.

The second example: On Quds Day, the most I and others dared to say a few days ago, for example, was that al-Quds is part of our faith, our religion, our dignity, and our honor, and we are a nation and a people who do not abandon our faith, our religion, our dignity, or our land. But listen to the boldness in Imam al-Sadr’s speech. On August 17, 1974 in Hay al-Sellom: “When they occupied al-Quds, they tried to break the back of Islam and destroy the reality of Christianity.” Listen, O Lebanese, O Muslims and Christians.

Imam al-Sadr says, “Our life without al-Quds is death and humiliation. Our life without al-Quds is death and humiliation. When a Muslim or Christian gives up al-Quds, he is giving up his religion, and when a Muslim or Christian gives up al-Quds, he gives he is giving up his religion.” Who would dare say this today that when we give up al-Quds, it means we have denounced Islam and Christianity?

Anyway, this imam chose this option after all this experience. What I would like to say here at the conclusion of this second example is that our scholars, leaders, and our elders since 1948 have chosen the state and the army and for the army and state institutions to defend the south and for them to fight alongside the state and the army and under their banner. Unfortunately, the state has always turned its back on the south and its people.

3- Those who today are demanding or calling for the abolition and disarmament of the resistance ignore and deny all its national achievements. We are not talking about something transient or something that we can cancel, ignore, or overcome, or something whose presence in our country, our history, and our society is marginal. Rather, we are talking about a resistance that has achieved the greatest achievements in the history of Lebanon. The biggest achievement in the history of Lebanon since 1948 is the liberation of the south and the western Beqaa on May 25, 2000 – its anniversary is in several days.

They ignore the achievements and victories of this resistance, which, in short, liberated the entire occupied Lebanese territory. The “Israeli” enemy reached Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the western Beqaa, and the coast. It occupied all of the south. This resistance alone, this resistance with all its factions liberated the entire Lebanese territory. When I talk about the resistance, I am talking about Hezbollah and all those who took up arms, fought, and offered martyrs. We have never monopolized the resistance, and we have never confiscated its achievements. Rather, we acknowledge everyone’s achievements. The resistance liberated the entire Lebanese territory. We still gave the Shebaa farms, the Kafr Shuba hills, and the Lebanese part of the town of al-Ghajar.

The resistance liberated the prisoners, with dignity and honor. They returned with their heads held high from the enemy’s prisons at different stages. Yes, we have some files left, such as the file of the prisoner Yahya Skaf, the file of Muhammad Adel Farran, and the file of Abdullah Alyan. These two brothers are missing. We are following these files as well as some of the other missing persons and some of the bodies of the martyrs.

The resistance in Lebanon struck the final nail in the coffin of the Greater “Israel” project. In the October 1973 war, the Syrian and Egyptian armies halted this project, temporarily freezing it. In 1982, “Israel” rushed and wanted to swallow Lebanon as part of the Greater “Israel” project. Its defeat in Lebanon struck the final nail in the coffin of the Greater “Israel” project. Why? Same as the liberation of Gaza after that, why? Because "Israel" that cannot remain in Lebanon, how can it occupy Syria or Egypt? We are talking about the weakest link among the countries surrounding Palestine. “Israel” failed to remain in it [Lebanon]. This is the achievement of the resistance in Lebanon and with it also the resistance in Palestine.

This resistance in 2006 destroyed the Greater “Israel” project, which attacks the entire region and is arrogant, threatens, etc. So did the Palestinians in Gaza in successive wars, the last of which was in the Al-Quds Sword Battle last year. They are doing it every day. The Palestinians do it every day – destroying the image of Greater “Israel”.

One of the achievements of the resistance is that it destroyed the saying "the invincible army".

One of the achievements of the resistance in Lebanon is that it defused the mines of sectarian strife after the enemy withdrew from Jezzine and the border strip, unlike what happened in other Lebanese regions when the Zionists left and sectarian strife erupted.

The resistance restored to Lebanon and to the peoples of the region self-confidence and belief in the ability to achieve victory. This sense of dignity, pride, freedom, and sovereignty was made by the resistance. This is not just words. This was not created by poetry. This was created by the blood, sweat, pain, sacrifices, the loss of loved ones, displacement, and steadfastness.

Some people in Lebanon tell you: May God give you wellness. You resisted and liberated. May God grant you wellness. But there is something today which is more important than liberation. It is protection, protecting southern Lebanon, protecting border villages in Lebanon, protecting the Wazzani and Litani rivers from the ambitions of "Israel", protecting all of Lebanon from the “Israeli” aggression. Who is protecting Lebanon now? Honestly, frankly, and without complimenting, it is the resistance. The resistance is an essential part of the golden equation: the army, the people, and the resistance. But the resistance is the one creating the equations of deterrence and the balance of terror with the enemy today.

The security the south, the people of the south, and the border villages enjoy, who made it, O Lebanese? This is an address to everyone, to all people. Let them answer us, especially those who listen to the speeches calling for disarming the resistance. At the very least, from August 14, 2006 how much time has passed when the border villages enjoyed security – regardless of the sect of its inhabitants, be them Muslims or Christians, Shiites, Sunnis, or Druze? Everyone in the border villages feel safe, secure, proud, dignified, sovereign, powerful, and vigorous. They build and plant along the barbed wires. Who created this?

Today, if the people abandon the resistance, and the resistance relinquishes its weapons and responsibilities, as some are demanding, who will protect southern Lebanon? Who will protect Lebanon?

This is the most important achievement that still exists.

4- Those who want or are demanding the disarmament of the resistance, when you ask them for an alternative – you tell them Lebanon is in the circle danger, unless they believe that "Israel" is a friend and a meek lamb and has no ambitions or threats – they don't offer you one.

In the context of all the discussions since 2006, we presented a defense strategy, options, and alternatives. We only hear from them: “hand your weapons to the state”, “there is no state except with one weapon”. But how do we protect the country? There is no answer. We discuss and learn. I remember well the speeches of Imam Hussein (PBUH) on the day of Ashura, when he addressed the people of Kufa and inferred to them: “Did I killed someone? Did I attack someone? Did I do something? I am the son of your Prophet’s daughter, etc. His companions also addressed them. What did they say to him? “O Hussain, we do not understand as to what you speak. Submit to the rule of Yazid and Ibn Ziyad.” Do we not hear that in Ashura assemblies?

In fact, since the defense strategy discussion in Lebanon began in 2006, I had a sense that “we do not understand as to what you speak. Hand in your weapons.”

My beloved, who is protecting the country? Who is protecting the south? Who is protecting the villages? Who is protecting the border villages? There is no answer.

That is why, at that table I presented a defensive strategy. But they did not answer me. Parliament Berri told them: “Ok, answer. Comment.” They asked to adjourn the session knowing that we only started an hour ago!!! They said: No, this needs a studying, it needs brains, and it needs experts.” Since 2006, they have not made any comments on the defense strategy. There is nothing except “we do not understand as to what you speak.”

 Few months ago, when His Excellency the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, called for a dialogue table and set the defense strategy clause, why did they boycott? Because they don't want to discuss.

I tell you in all honesty, there are brothers who sometimes tell me: “Sayyed, the best thing to do is end this matter. One day, come out and say: We are done. No talk to us about a defensive strategy. We are not ready. No. Today, we are as ready as we were yesterday and 2006 and will be tomorrow. We are ready to discuss a national defensive strategy. Why? Because we have logic, argument, evidence, experience, history, and facts. The ones who are evading debate are the weak and who have no argument or evidence. That is why they did not present an alternative.

Then, let someone tell people: The army – of course, we respect the army – the army today and for a long time has had a good and excellent national ideology. It also has competent, brave, and loyal leaders, officers, and soldiers. But the question is: Is the Lebanese army currently capable of bearing this responsibility? Is the Lebanese army, with its current number – in comparison to "Israel", the strongest army in the Middle East – and armament, including rockets, planes, and air defenses capable of bearing this responsibility? They will say: give it weapons. Is the Lebanese army, with the way it is deployed, its classical army, its barracks, and its bases, capable of protecting Lebanon alone? No, the army, the resistance, and the people together can barely protect the country.

Hence, they do not offer an alternative. They are pushing the Lebanese arm. The other problem other than the Lebanese army will be the political decision. Who in Lebanon wants to make a political decision to bomb the settlements if "Israel" bombed our villages? Who? Tell me who?

Imam al-Sadr always used to tell them, "This is a brave army, but you do not dare to make a decision."

5- Some of those calling for the disarmament of the resistance – whether they know or not, so no one says Sayyed is accusing us of treason – know. We tell them: those who are demanding the disarmament of the resistance, whether they know it or not, want Lebanon to be exposed to the “Israeli” enemy. I go back to the forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies, the invasions, and the occupation – on land, air, and sea. They want the “Israelis” to. Do the “Israelis” dare to attack any place in Lebanon now? Would the “Israeli” Air Force dare bombard anywhere in Lebanon, not in the south, but anywhere in Lebanon? Why? Answer me why? 

Is it because of international decisions or the international community or the Arab League? Why? This answer is clear, as clear as day. But they are disguising the truth. They want – and this is the most important point that I would like to talk about – Lebanon to give up its most important card in the issue of extracting oil and gas from its waters.

Today, O Lebanese and southerners, today we have an economic, financial, and living crisis. Let us speak frankly. They want to lift subsidies, increase taxes, and talk about VAT. They want to lay off the employees, raise the prices, and here they want to beg from the International Monetary Fund. They want aids and loans. We have a massive wealth worth hundreds of billions of dollars according to some estimates. I am not an expert, but this is what the Lebanese officials said. We have gas and oil resources in our waters worth hundreds of billions of dollars. This mean we certainly can pay our debts, improve the situation in our country, and also make a huge regeneration without being subject to anyone's conditions. Well, why not extract oil and gas? “Israel” does not allow us to do that. We disagree on the demarcation of the borders. Well, today is the golden opportunity. I say to the Lebanese, today, Lebanon is in need more than it has was in1948. Today, Lebanon is more destitute, poorer, and more deprived. At that time, Imam al-Sadr was talking about the deprived south, Beqaa, and Akkar. Today, all Lebanese areas are deprived. Poverty, deprivation, need, and unemployment transcends sects and areas. Well, when will we extract this wealth? When we die! When we get humiliated! When Lebanon is confiscated! When there is no longer sovereignty in the country, and yet there are three or four billion from the IMF, what will you do? A few loans from CEDRE and other organizations, what will you do?

We are a devastated, plundered, hungry, poor, neglected country. We need hundreds of billions of dollars. Who in the world is ready to help us? Even the Arab countries did not send a ship of diesel during the cold and frosty winter. None of them sent. Hundreds of billions of dollars are in our sea and waters.

I tell the Lebanese state, today, you have a golden opportunity. When the war in Ukraine ends, Europe will be looking for gas and oil, and they are a stone's throw from our Lebanese shores. Certainly, someone will buy oil and gas from us, from Lebanon. Well, this is a golden and historic opportunity. Seize it.

I do not want, as I said before, to interfere in the demarcation of the maritime border. Lebanon divided it into blocks. Offer the blocks that you think are yours for bidding, so you can extract gas and oil from the south. I assure you that there are international companies that will accept. No one should say that “Israel” will stop us. Today, I am addressing the people of the south, who are gathered in Nabatiyeh and Tyre. I also tell the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people. You have a courageous, strong, and capable resistance that can tell the enemy who is working day and night on exploration and extracting oil and gas from the disputed areas that if prevented Lebanon [from extracting oil and gas], we will prevent you from doing so as well. We have the courage, strength, and ability. I guarantee you that. No company in the world would dare to come to anywhere in the disputed area if Hezbollah issued a clear and serious threat regarding this matter.

Today, no one doubts that the resistance is capable of doing that, and no one doubts that the enemy will retreat, because what it is taking is what it needs, especially at this stage. They know Europe's need for gas and oil. They will recede and ignore. In any case, this is our natural right. What does Lebanon rely on to be able to extract its wealth from gas and oil from its territorial waters! Someone will tell you, based on rights. Rights in this world? You are talking to me about rights!

Take a look at the Palestinian people. International resolutions giving them their rights, including the right of return, have been issued since 1948. However, these rights are not based on a force that is respected by the whole world.

During the Trump administration, Kushner personally invested Arab money in “Israel”. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, was in charge of the issue of demarcating the maritime borders. Let us say that the Americans are going to negotiate with Lebanon. will they be negotiating because it is Lebanon’s right? No. Because they respect Lebanon? No, but because they know that there is resistance in Lebanon that will make the enemy pay a price if Lebanon is prevented from benefiting from its rights and wealth; because they are afraid of our reaction.

They will negotiate and try to make the negotiations serves “Israel's” interest. I tell the Lebanese state that if you want to continue the negotiations, this is your business, but not in Naqoura and not with Frankenstein, Einstein, or whoever. Negotiations especially with the dishonest American mediator, conspirator, accomplice, and supporter of “Israel” will produce results. For Lebanon to overcome poverty, its need, deprivation, neglect, its debts, and its hunger – we are not saying, for example, that we are dreaming of that, this is now possible – we need to make a decision and a great position. We are able to do this if we stand united. We can impose on the whole world, not only on the enemy, that companies come to start extracting oil and gas from our territorial waters.

6- Those demanding the disarmament of the resistance, want to sell this position to the Americans and the West in order to obtain political and financial protection, to say that we are your protectors and the protectors of your project and allies. Otherwise, this is not a popular demand. All the opinion polls said so. However, I want to address them. Let's say for the sake of argument that you have reached this conclusion; do you expect that the American will be satisfied with that?

Learn from the experiences of all the Arab countries surrounding us. After the issue of the resistance, they will tell you that Lebanon must recognize the State of “Israel”. America, brothers, sends delegations of its ministers to Indonesia – Indonesia is far from Palestine – for it to recognize “Israel”, let alone Lebanon?

They will ask that Lebanon officially recognize “Israel” in the Lebanese government and parliament. They will ask you not only for recognition. They will ask you to normalize with “Israel”. They will ask you to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon. You, the advocate of disarming the resistance, do you support the settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon?

We want the Palestinians to return to their homes, their lands, and their homeland dignified and their rights given to them. They will keep asking from you. The Americans have endless demands. When you give in to the first condition, the second, third, fourth, and fifth demands will follow. Let us suppose that we handed over the resistance’s weapons, our living and economic crisis will be solved. Let us suppose we handed over our arms, recognized “Israel”, normalized ties with “Israel”, settled the Palestinian, and accepted the settlement of Syrian refugees or displaced persons, what then?

Will it solve our economic and living problems? Let us not look further. This is Egypt before you. Egypt is suffering from living and economic crises. It is working, day and night, to overcome this tragedy. Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Sudan, my brother, give me a country that was in conflict with the enemy. Do not tell me the Emirates. The Emirates is a rich country. It is the one giving “Israel” money. It does not need someone to give it money. Give me a country that was in conflict with the enemy or that had a position against the enemy then they recognized it, reconciled with it, made peace with it, normalized ties with it and now lives in economic prosperity by doing heeding to these “Israeli” conditions.

Brothers and sisters, the electoral, media, and political campaigns or the political and media war and sectarian incitement against the resistance that we saw during the past weeks. It is true what one of our dear brothers said that what we are facing during this election season is a political July war. Some in Lebanon objected to this description. This is a correct description, why? The tools of the July 2006 war were the military, the air force, bombing, missiles, fire, killing, and destruction. What was the goal of the war? To cancel the resistance, to get rid of the resistance and disarm it. Today, they are calling for disarming the resistance. Wasn't this one of the goals of the July military war? Now, what these people are raising is a political July war because their goal is to tell people to vote for them so they can be Parliament and form a government to disarm Hezbollah, to disarm the resistance. isn’t this true? This is their literature. Hence, this is a political July war with political tools and not military ones. They are waging it with rhetoric, incitement, television, lies, slanders, accusations, shams, false promises, etc.

Brothers and sisters, our people in the south and in all of Lebanon, you won the military July war. Hence, the resistance remained and its weapons remained. You have triumphed with your perseverance, your blood, your hard work, your vigil, your courage, and your steadfastness. Today, we are looking to you in all electoral districts to tell you that you must win the political July war with your will, your votes, your loyalty, and your sincerity.

The military July war demanded that we make sacrifices – sacrifice our sons, our dear ones, our loved ones. Many martyrs fell; there were many wounded and tens of thousands of destroyed houses. As for today, the July political war requires us to leave our homes – the homes we built with our sweat – in the morning of May 15, hold our heads high and feel proud, dignified, and free; then, practice political resistance so that the armed military resistance remains for us. This is what is required on May 15.

I tell some Lebanese who support the resistance and its weapon but are still hesitant [to vote] because of the living crisis. If you do not vote for the resistance, will your living crisis be solved? Basically, my brothers and sisters, if there is hope in Lebanon that your living crisis will be resolved, it is because of the resistance that will guarantee Lebanon the extraction of oil and gas from its territorial waters.

Brothers and sisters, everyone in Lebanon should know that this resistance is not a passing thing. Some – I do not want to use any phrases nor offend anyone – can be disillusioned or imagine that this resistance and its weapons can be disposed of.

This resistance is the human, civilized, moral, spiritual, moral, and material heritage of our people and our areas, especially the south, since 1948, i.e., 74 years. This resistance today is a legacy, an embodiment, and the epitome of 74 years of pain, tears, displacement, fear, fighting, blood, tears, martyrs, wounded, displaced, afflicted, and destroyed homes. It is the outcome of the sacrifices of our great leaders – from Imam al-Sadr to the rest of our scholars and leaders.

I call on you today to stand beside this resistance and its allies because its allies are also targeted. This resistance is not the resistance of so-and-so in 2022. It is the resistance of Imam Sharafeddine; it is the resistance of Imam Musa al-Sadr; it is the resistance of His Eminence Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah; it is the resistance of His Eminence Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din. The most precious sacrifices were made in order for this resistance to exist, grow, become great, evolve, and triumph – from the sheikh of the martyrs, Sheikh Ragheb Harb and the sayyed of the martyrs Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi to the best of our youth and our leaders, including Muhammad Saad, Khalil Jaradi, Imad Mughniyeh, and Mustafa Badreddine.

This resistance is what it is today thanks to the thousands of men and women who were imprisoned in detention centers – the Khiam detention camp, Atlit detention center, Ansar detention camp – and “Israeli” prisons and suffered a lot. It is the result of the sacrifices of thousands of wounded people who are still suffering today from the pain of their wounds.

Therefore, it is not a passing resistance, and its people will not abandon it because they are the resistance. Yes, one of the important factors for this resistance becoming great is the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Islamic Republic standing by the resistance and supporting it with all means, as well as Syria standing by the resistance and supporting it with all means. But in the end, this resistance is the resistance of this people, the people of these villages and towns, the families, the scholars, schools, and hawzas. It is the resistance of the Lebanese people – Muslims, Christians, Shiites, Sunnis, and Druze. Therefore, no one should expect the people of the resistance to abandon the resistance.

Today, brothers and sisters – our speech today was all about the resistance because it is the title of the elections – whoever wants to preserve Lebanon should vote for the resistance and its allies. Whoever wants to defend Lebanon, whoever wants to protect Lebanon, whoever wants to be able to extract Lebanon's oil and gas wealth should vote for the resistance and its allies. Whoever wants to preserve Lebanon’s waters should vote for the resistance and its allies. Whoever wants Lebanon to remain at the heart of the regional equation, whoever wants Lebanon to remain respected in the eyes of the world, visited by the world should vote for the resistance and its allies.

This is our call to you, of course. By the way, at the conclusion of the speech today, the “Israelis” announced the start of their major maneuver in occupied Palestine. As I said on Quds Day, we are meeting here today, and in the coming days, we will continue the electoral campaign. But as I said on Quds Day, I announce and tell you now – at seven o'clock – because today, the generals began to prepare themselves. At seven o'clock, we asked the Islamic Resistance formations in Lebanon to mobilize their weapons, leaders, cadres, and fighters within certain percentages that will increase with time and be in full readiness. The Lebanese will be preoccupied with the elections. There are those who attack the resistance and there are those who defend it. But the resistance does not care about all those who do not know what they are saying. It stays up day and night to be ready and reiterate that we will not hesitate to respond to any mistake the enemy makes toward Lebanon. We are not afraid of your great exercise, your army, or your existence. We are the ones who believed more than 20 years ago that you are weaker than a spider's web, let alone today.

Today, brothers – the rest of the files will be discussed tomorrow, God willing – our people in the south, you honorable people, the most honorable people, the purest people, and the most honorable people, our date is with you on May 15^th, with the resistance, with Imam Musa al-Sadr, with Sayyed Abbas, Sheikh Ragheb, and all the martyrs.

Peace and God's mercy and blessings be upon you.